Bat houses see resurgence as way to cut down on fertilizers and pesticides

In a state teeming with alligators and iguanas, environmental guidelines now call for more bats.

Some local governments in South Florida are encouraging residents to build bat boxes (think birdhouse on stilts) as part of a broader effort to promote environmentally friendly landscapes. Similar efforts have taken flight in Central Florida. For years, cities throughout the region have set up bat houses as an eco-friendly and cost-effective way to deal with the urban bats that tend to congregate in vacant buildings and homes.

The goal for both regions is to cut down on pesticides and fertilizers, conserve water and protect flora and fauna threatened by the proliferation of shopping malls and condos.

"In the urban areas of Broward County, we have lost a lot of habitat," said Diana Guidry, NatureScape Broward outreach coordinator. "In those cases, we would encourage residents to put up nest boxes, including bat houses."

Volusia County bat specialist Laura Seckbach Finn said it's also a way to evict the flying mammals from vacant buildings without losing their benefits. Bats consume their weight each night in insects, including mosquitoes and agricultural pests.

"If it flies at night, a bat will eat them," said Finn, who owns Fly By Night Inc. in Osteen. Her nonprofit focuses on bat research, population management and public education. Finn has built and installed numerous bat houses, including in DeLand, Sanford and Tavares and at the University of Central Florida.

The state Legislature last year encouraged local governments to adopt rules that foster environmentally sustainable practices. Such a plan must be in place before the South Florida Water Management District will issue water-use permits. In Central Florida, the district manages areas of Polk, Osceola and Orange counties.

But some worry that bats will upend Florida's delicate ecosystem and threaten humans with rabies and other diseases.

Finn doesn't know of similar policies being mandated in Central Florida. Nor does she think it's a good idea. Mandates would only leave a "bad taste" and discourage homeowners from putting a bat home in their backyards, she said.

"I feel if the benefits are presented and … [you] let the people make a decision, hopefully most people, in our experience, will say yes," said Finn, commonly known as the "bat lady." The majority of people who call her to remove unwanted bats will agree to put a bat house on their property, she said. She thinks a better method would be to offer discounts on water bills and property taxes for them.

Still, the idea of luring bats to densely populated neighborhoods is not exactly flying high in South Florida. Officials in Pembroke Pines will recommend that commissioners approve a landscape plan that omits any mention of bat houses. Coconut Creek may follow suit in the coming months, followed by Hollywood in the next two years.

Efforts in Central Florida, however, have met with success.

Deltona installed a small cedar bat house behind City Hall atop a 30-foot pole last year. The house can hold 300 to 500 bats. Sanford officials hired Finn to build and install three houses. One is on the lake side of City Hall. Two more were built at Centennial Park, where bats were nesting in hollow beams in the gazebo.

"There was bat guano all over the gazebo floor. It was a mess," said parks and grounds operations manager Marc Hultin.

The bat houses were a "cost-effective" way to evict the nocturnal creatures, he said. The locals don't even notice the bat houses about 20 feet above ground, he added. "I don't think they disturb anybody."

Finn said she installed two or three structures in Tavares about three years ago. She recently installed three at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Conservationists say bat boxes, used in Florida since at least the 1920s, are seeing a resurgence at condominiums and parks. One of the longest-standing bat houses in Florida sits at the end of a cul-de-sac on Sugar Loaf Key. The circa-1920s bat box was installed by a developer who hoped to wipe out mosquitoes and attract new residents to the area.

At dusk some evenings, crowds gape as bats fill the sky around University of Florida's bat house, which, with more than 100,000 bats, is said to be the world's largest. The 20-foot high bat house — with 180 highly coveted dark crevices — went up in 1991 to keep bats away from the stadium. The university installed a second "bat barn" in the same field this year.

Finn has installed several bat houses at UCF, where she received a bachelor's degree in zoology and master's in biology. In 1995, she was involved in building some at Seminole Community College.

"Bats are a vital part of our ecology," said Cyndi Marks, executive director of the Florida Bat Conservancy, based in St. Petersburg. "A lot of people think of them as rats, but they're not. You will only have as many bats as you have insects — it's the only thing they eat in Florida."